Vol 5. Chapter 32: Reflection

Was I supposed to choose to keep my distance from Aesphyra from the very beginning??

No.

If he had done that, he absolutely would not have been able to win either.

Amid the flashing blades and sword shadows, Vinny was already drenched in sweat. He knew he was about to be unable to hold on.

In fact, his damage-taking belt had already started throwing out numbers. That proved that if this had been actual combat, he would already be injured. And this was real fighting. As everyone knew, only in games could a person keep losing HP while their state remained locked in place. In real combat, once someone was injured, the effect on fighting ability was huge.

It looked like there had been a problem with one step of his decision-making, but it was too late to think about that now. What he needed to think about now was how he was supposed to break out of this.

As everyone knew, Vinny possessed super world-shaking wisdom. And if this were any ordinary situation, his super wisdom would now be reminding him to use super power.

Unfortunately, the current situation was wrong. Also, this was only a training match. Although his super wisdom was constantly reminding him that it was time to use super power, under the eyes of everyone here, and especially under the eyes of Aesphyra, Margaret, and the many Church students, that was definitely not allowed.

Vinny gripped the two ends of the spear separately with both hands. This was a grip commonly used for defense. Right now, he had no way to attack at all, and he could not control the distance either. Aesphyra had already suppressed him to less than half a body-length away, and the weakness of a spear being difficult to attack with in close-range combat was showing itself.

To put the current situation nicely, they were locked in a hard-fought struggle.

To put it bluntly, he was being beaten so badly he was running around with his head in his hands.

The angle, force, timing, and technique of Aesphyra’s sword strikes were far too tricky. Vinny had to spend a great deal of energy just to barely receive one of Aesphyra’s swords. The longer this war of attrition continued, the duller Vinny’s reactions became, and the more energy he consumed.

That was not even the most important part. The most important part was that the pressure Aesphyra exerted gave her enemy enormous psychological stress. When all these factors stacked together, the effect they produced was absolutely not something that could be described in a few words.

No wonder.

In the game, those enemies who seemed like bosses and elite monsters had been instantly killed by Aesphyra the moment they met her. So this was what had happened.

But—

Vinny gritted his teeth.

He absolutely would not give up here.

Aesphyra had barely used any magic so far. She had simply used swordsmanship and still crushed him to death. Then what was he supposed to do in the later Chosen One Granted by God Tournament? How was he supposed to beat Aesphyra??

But right now, he felt helpless before this situation.

Vinny quickly fell into a disadvantage. The worse his state became, the sharper and more lethal Aesphyra’s offensive seemed.

Vinny was consuming more and more stamina and focus, gradually becoming unable to keep up.

Compared to Aesphyra, his spell pool was too shallow. After he had cast his spells one by one, he was completely dragged into Aesphyra’s rhythm.

“Clang, clang!!”

Finally, during one block, his lack of stamina gave Aesphyra an opening. With one upward flick, she knocked his spear shaft up.

Vinny’s eyes widened slightly. Immediately afterward, he saw the holy sword right in front of him.

Only when facing its edge did Vinny finally understand just how terrifying the pressure those demon-race enemies who had fought Aesphyra had endured.

Barring any accident, this sword would decide the outcome.

“The victor has been decided,” Isatia murmured softly out of nowhere.

[Light Protection]

At the critical moment, a brilliant holy-light barrier rose around Vinny, deflecting Aesphyra’s sword edge.

Vinny abruptly looked toward Margaret. She was holding the crystal hammer in one hand while pinching a flickering light-element magical inscription with the other.

It seemed her [Light Protection] had just finished its cooldown in time, letting her help him.

[Light Protection] shielded Vinny. Although it would not be difficult for Aesphyra’s methods to break through this light-element barrier, it was enough to let Vinny rally himself.

Vinny shook his head and forced his mind to clear a little. On the other side, as expected, Aesphyra also realized the problem Margaret posed. However, she did not go after Margaret. She raised her hand, and high heat surged in her palm.

It was another plain and unadorned fireball spell, blasting a large opening in the [Light Protection] Margaret had created.

It was unclear whether Aesphyra had deliberately controlled her strength, but the power of this fireball spell was just enough to blast an opening in the barrier. It did not add much intensity to Vinny’s damage-taking belt.

That terrifying power.

Vinny knew the effect of the [Light Protection] spell. Against bombardment from elemental magic, light-element defensive magic was very strong, even somewhat stronger than defensive water magic.

However, Aesphyra had blown it open with one simple fireball spell.

Vinny shielded his eyes from the glaring light before him. Smoke produced by the explosion swirled and spread, blocking most of his vision.

When the smoke scattered, the silhouette of a heroic silver-haired girl emerged from the rolling black smoke. The smoke spreading to both sides accompanied the girl’s hair as it fluttered like snow, and those cold eyes, like purple agate, seemed to hold a trace of icy frost.

Her momentum was completely maxed out.

As the light-element barrier shattered into pieces and the lingering smoke dispersed, Vinny grabbed the tail of the spear and swept the long spear across.

[Rimefrost Full-Moon Slash]

This was another way to use [Rimefrost Full-Moon Slash].

The target of the slash was not Aesphyra.

Instead, a nearly two-meter ice cocoon condensed wherever the spear swept past.

This ice wall stood between Aesphyra and Vinny.

“Just now, did Aesphyra nearly win?” someone who had picked up on a little of what was happening could not help asking.

“Huh? Did she? I didn’t notice. But I really do feel like Vinny’s kind of at the end of his rope.”

The discussion in the spectator seats was somewhat reasonable.

Could one ice wall stop Aesphyra?

That was impossible.

Sure enough, when Aesphyra saw it, she swung her sword, and the all-cutting holy sword chopped the ice wall into a pile of ice shards.

“That move is useless. Vinny’s ice isn’t that solid either. One sword and it shattered.”

Someone in the spectator seats could not help criticizing.

But in reality, could Vinny possibly not know that this ice wall could not stop Aesphyra?

Of course he knew.

However, his goal had not been to stop Aesphyra in the first place.

This ice wall was only a smokescreen.

The ice wall could not block Aesphyra, but it could block her line of sight, preventing her from knowing what he was doing behind the ice wall.

And after the ice wall broke apart, Aesphyra did not see Vinny’s figure.

At the exact same time, Vinny appeared at her side.

In the instant the ice wall shattered, Vinny had used the sound of the breaking ice wall as cover and used an ice chain to pull himself to Aesphyra’s side, launching a surprise offensive.

“Clang, clang!”

However, this little trick could not threaten Aesphyra. Aesphyra’s reaction speed captured the attack rushing toward her with extreme swiftness. She raised her sword and blocked it with ease.

Vinny froze.

At this moment, the strength-enhancement magic on him had completely vanished. He swung the spear blade with both hands, yet Aesphyra blocked it with one hand.

Which meant Aesphyra’s other hand was still free.

Anyone with eyes could tell the outcome.

Even with Margaret’s help on his side, and even while Aesphyra’s teammate was practically just decoration, he had still been defeated by Aesphyra without pressure.

As for why Margaret had not come up to fight together with him, Vinny felt Margaret’s judgment was correct. The fight just now had been so intense that it would have been hard for Margaret to find an opening. Even if she had interfered, with the tacit cooperation between him and Margaret still undeveloped, they might have ended up obstructing each other and producing an operation where one plus one was less than two.

“Ring-ring-ring-ring.”

“All right, everyone stop.”

Just then, the bell rang. The competition-area barrier was released, and the referee’s voice arrived at the right time.

“You lot, stop fighting. You’ve been fighting for an entire class period and still haven’t finished. All the other groups competing alongside you have already finished and determined the winners.”

The referee called out while walking toward them.

“All right, stop fighting. Time is up. This match is set as a draw.”

The referee looked at Aesphyra, then looked at Vinny.

“Even if you’re unwilling, you can’t continue. Time is up. You should leave the field.”

“Huh?”

Not far away, Margaret was slightly surprised.

“Time passed that quickly?”

She had thought there was still a lot of time left.

“An entire class period has passed. The maximum time for your match ended a while ago.”

The referee pointed at the hourglass on the table. The sand in the upper half had already finished flowing down.

“According to the rules of the match, when the maximum match time is exceeded, no matter how the duel is going, it is counted as a draw. Do you have any objections?”

The referee said this solemnly.

“No objections, sir.”

Aesphyra sheathed her sword with a smile. With a casual wave of her hand, the holy sword vanished like falling light.

“Vinny performed very well.”

Aesphyra put her hands behind her back and praised him, then looked toward Margaret, who was walking over.

“Margaret too. Your support was very timely several times.”

“You flatter me, Upperclassman. You are the one who truly deserves to be called a genius seen once in a thousand years.”

How powerful Aesphyra was, Margaret, who had been supporting Vinny from behind earlier, had already glimpsed a little of it. These words were not entirely modest.

She vaguely felt that Aesphyra might not even have used half her strength earlier.

No.

Half was too much.

If one really calculated it, Aesphyra had spent most of the entire match using her sword. She had only used magic a few times, and all the spells she had used were overly ordinary spells like fireball and [Flame Cutting].

It was not that ordinary magic was weak. On the contrary, it was precisely because it was strong that everyone used it, making it seem common. Some rarely seen spells were either absurdly specialized in function or so weak they had no edge at all. Those were the ones that truly went ignored.

But after the entire match, Aesphyra had only used these spells, which gave the impression that she had barely exerted any effort at all. Forget trump-card ultimate moves hidden at the bottom of the box—she had not even used the spells she commonly used to deal with real enemies.

“And Connie, everyone gets a little nervous the first time they enter the Training Field. Everyone is like that. There’s no need to blame yourself. Next time will be much better.”

After saying that, Aesphyra looked toward Connie, who was holding her staff and did not know whether she should come over or take advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to her right now to hurry up and leave the field, lest it become even more awkward later.

“Th-thank you, Upperclassman Aesphyra,” Connie said, deeply embarrassed.

They were both first-years. Margaret had contributed quite a bit, helped quite a bit, and had a strong presence throughout the match. Connie, however, had been like an outsider the entire time, standing there from beginning to end without contributing at all. It was truly too embarrassing.

Holding everyone back was not the embarrassing part. Although there was only one school year between second-years and first-years, that one year seemed especially crucial. It was not just her. Many of her classmates had not performed well either.

But once there was a comparison group, the contrast immediately made it feel awkward.

“And you, Vinny?” The referee looked toward Vinny.

“Of course I have no objections either.”

Vinny withdrew [Frostfang].

This was a match Aesphyra should have won in the first place. In the end, time had just happened to run out, and the other side had already said she accepted the draw. What else could he say?

It was just that—

Vinny felt somewhat gloomy.

Although the current him could exchange a few moves with Aesphyra, this was far from meeting his expectations.

Of course, he had not used his full strength either. He had also been probing more than anything, and many of his killing moves had not been used. For example, major killing moves like [Icefang’s Roar]. Vinny had been worried they might injure Aesphyra, so he had not used them.

That included his enchanted lightning ring and [Sixfold Inferno]. Vinny had not used those enchanted tools either. If this had been one of his usual life-and-death battles, his tactics would have included the linkage between these enchanted tools.

Another point was that this was only a training match, so ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) he could not use too many enchanted weapons.

However, even so, Aesphyra was the same. And Aesphyra had hidden even more. If anyone said today’s Aesphyra had been completely serious, Vinny would not believe it.

There was only one month left.

Could he really make it in time?

No.

Even if he could not make it in time, he had to make it in time. He had to find a way to greatly improve his strength within this month.

To face the storm that would come afterward.

After the group removed their damage-taking belts, they left the field.

Vinny let out a breath and moved his sore, swollen shoulders.

With the protection of the damage-taking belt, he was not injured. But after fighting Aesphyra for so long, he naturally could not avoid mental exhaustion and aching muscles.

Aesphyra, that girl. She was clearly so tiny, so why was she so strong??

Vinny was very depressed.

“Sorry, Upperclassman Vinny. It seems I still dragged you down.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t say that. You already did your best.”

Vinny glanced at Margaret, who was following behind him with a face full of apology.

However, after this match, even those first-year Church students next door who disliked him seemed to look at him a little differently.

“You should go back. Don’t make your friends worry.”

Vinny glanced toward Margaret’s class, then withdrew his gaze.

“Mhm, all right.”

Margaret also noticed the gazes coming from her own class. She nodded, said goodbye to Vinny, and walked toward the spectator seats for her class, receiving the admiring and approving gazes of all her classmates.

“Isatia, you haven’t gone up yet?”

After stepping down from the field and seeing Isatia watching him, Vinny asked.

“Mm.”

Isatia nodded.

“I probably won’t go up until next class.”

“A good fight. A very unusual line of thought.”

“Mhm, thanks for the praise.”

Good?

Vinny knew very well what it had actually been like.

He had been suppressed by Aesphyra from start to finish. Of course, if one said that many people did not even have the chance to be suppressed by Aesphyra and were instantly killed the moment they stepped onto the field, then there was nothing that could be done about that.

After this match, Vinny had many things to reflect on. He sat to the side and fell into a daze, thinking about the upcoming Carillian Academy Chosen One Granted by God Tournament.

Speaking of which, where had Shicodale gone?

As Vinny thought and thought, he suddenly realized he did not see that familiar figure who was usually there. Puzzled, he searched the spectator seats but could not find Shicodale, until he glanced toward the field. Only when he saw that figure did he realize Shicodale had happened to go up for a match.

Although Shicodale was timid and submissive off the field, once actually on the field, Shicodale’s performance was still very good.

Compared to one year ago, when Shicodale had first come to Carillian Academy.

Speaking of which, before long, they would see the double-moon celestial phenomenon, wouldn’t they?

Vinny suddenly thought of the records he had seen before about the double-moon celestial phenomenon.